[UniMacTech] New MacBooks and Firewire

[Kris Kopicki]

Hi,

On 12/11/2008, at 9:24 AM, David Wikeley wrote:

>    Before we purchase some new MacBooks, what are others doing about  
> the
> lack of a Firewire port on the new MacBooks?
>
> How does Target Disk Mode work, we use this mode on a daily basis to  
> set-up
> new MacBooks. We boot off a system on the external drive and clone a  
> system
> to the new computer, very quick.

As someone has already mentioned, you can still do this with USB drive  
enclosures, however depending on the size of the SOE you are  
restoring, it may add significantly to your time. We did some testing  
with one of the new 500GB LaCie Rugged cases, just to see how bad USB2  
really is:

FW800: 52MB/sec
FW400: 32MB/sec
USB2: 24MB/sec

So as you can see you take quite a speed hit for USB2, which you'll  
really notice if you are restoring 15GB dmg's like we do. The better  
way to be doing this is with Netboot/NetRestore. You can't beat the  
performance of Gigabit ethernet. We can restore a 15GB SOE to an iMac  
in 14 minutes (with verification). Of course if you're machines don't  
have access to ethernet, then USB is your only option.

The bigger issue here is that you can no longer use target mode to  
access data off your laptops. We are purchasing some SATA drive docks  
that you can pop a drive out of a laptop into, connected to the host  
over USB2. Something like this
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/84881/HARD_DRIVE_-_EXTERNAL_DRIVE_CASE_SATA_-_USB_3.5/Vantec/NST-D100S2.asp

> Does this mean that all our external  Firewire drives (no USB ports)  
> will
> just sit on the shelves to gather dust. Is there a third party USB to
> Firewire adapter we can use.

I'd imagine FW will still be in other product lines for some time yet,  
but eventually that will be the case, as it is with all technology.

Cheers,

Kris

--------------------------------------
Kris Kopicki
Systems Administrator
Walford Anglican School for Girls Inc.
316 Unley Road, Hyde Park
SA 5061 Australia

Web:    http://www.walford.asn.au
Phone:    +61-8-82726555
Fax:        +61-8-82720313
Mobile:    +61407790415